


Space Ship E-Arth

by Jingle



Category: Disney - All Media Types, Lilo & Stitch (2002)
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Space, Gen, Music, Ohana, Space Stations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-24
Updated: 2015-07-24
Packaged: 2018-04-11 00:15:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4413500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jingle/pseuds/Jingle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Roughly 100 years in the future, all humans live with a collection of other alien species on a space station known as E-Arth. The actual planet Earth was abandoned long ago, and certain aspects of its culture were lost during this process.</p>
<p>Then a nine year old girl and her alien best friend discover a record.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Space Ship E-Arth

**Author's Note:**

> I don't really know where this idea came from. It was really fun to write, though.

E-Arth was a beautiful place to live. It wasn’t as beautiful as Earth itself had been, before the pollution had taken over and forced mankind to move, but few people were left to remember that, so it wasn’t an issue. The space station was, for the most part, covered in glimmering metals that shined like the stars outside the large windows. But the true beauty of E-Arth wasn’t in its aesthetic. It was in its efficiency. People had everything they needed, no matter what job they or their families held on the station. Illness was rare and dealt with by the smartest of doctors with access to the finest of medicines. Mental health issues were treated with careful consideration and skilled therapists. Trash and waste was destroyed on a molecular level to prevent further dirtying space. Of course, these systems didn’t always work, and of course, they came with their costs. Life on E-Arth was a bit rigid, and a bit, well, _dull_. There were plenty of activities on the station, but so much of what had made Earth fun had been lost over nearly a century of separation. Those in charge were so afraid of repeating Earth’s mistakes that they forgot the good it had held.

However, there were still a few artifacts that had been snuck aboard and hidden away. Their owners might have been long-gone, but new, young souls with wide eyes and hearts full of adventure had a chance to rediscover the magic.

“C’mon, Stitch!” Lilo called, waving for her friend to follow her. Lilo was a short, round little girl with dark hair and skin. She wore the typical grey uniform of the space station, but the long sleeves had clearly been coated with glitter glue. She raced down the halls of E-Arth, keeping an eye out for the any of the leaders who might reprimand her for not structuring her time.

Stitch was a blue alien, a genetically modified creature who looked like the old Earth creatures known as dogs… Or possible like the ones known as koalas. A good mix, really. Stitch had been created by a self-proclaimed evil genius to bring havoc to E-Arth, but first he’d met Lilo. She’d been able to bring out the good in him, and now the two were inseparable.

“Stitch coming!” he called in a raspy voice, before returning his focus to the mouse trap he’d come across. He was quickly able to render it useless, which pleased him for two reasons: One, the mice and rats would be safe. (Stitch has been fond of rodents ever since Lilo staged herself a fake marriage to a rat last year.) Two, and perhaps a bit more satisfying, it would _really_ bother the cleaning crew and, additionally, the whole council of leadership.

At that lovely thought, Stitch let out a maniacal laugh and crawled up the wall; along the ceiling until he caught up with Lilo.

“What took you?” Lilo asked as Stitch leapt to the ground.

The alien just grinned, then asked, “Lilo sure stuff hidden out here?”

Lilo nodded. “David said he was walking back from a performance and he noticed a hollow spot on the floor this way. We’ve got to check it out before the guys in charge find it!”

David, who worked as a fire juggler, was the boyfriend of Nani, Lilo’s older sister. When Lilo was about four, their parents had been lost to a rare instance of a disease breaking out. At first, the sisters had struggled to co-exist after that, especially with Nani suddenly thrown into the role of parent, but as years had passed – and their family grew – things had improved.

The two friends continued down the hall, which was out of the way and mostly housed botany labs. Lilo was excited to find whatever was hidden down the way. So far, every hiding place they’d found had already been emptied… But she had a good feeling about this one. David _never_ steered her wrong. He even let her drink _coffee_ , which was definitely a good idea, no matter what her sister said.

She and Stitch were starting to cultivate a list of ideas as to what they may find when the floor beneath them started to sound different when they stepped on it. Lilo and Stitch looked at each other with matching looks of excitement.

“Alright, Stitch, I’ll make sure nobody’s in that lab right now,” Lilo said. She pointed to the door on one side of the hall, then upwards to the ceiling. “You know what to do about that.” Taking out the incredibly well-hidden security cameras around the space station was a specialty of Stitch’s. It didn’t take him long to find and eliminate them, although he made a mental note to hack into the control center of E-Arth soon to delete the footage of them showing up there in the first place.

Lilo had given the all-clear after exploring the lab, so once Stitch had finished up on the ceiling, he hopped down and began to tear away at the metal floor. Nothing was supposed to be able to break E-Arth itself, but Stitch had been built _precisely_ to do just that. He knew he had to be quiet as he worked, but it was difficult not to let a few mischievous giggles escape. As good as he was now, he still enjoyed doing things that were just a little bit… _Naughty_. Once he unearthed a flimsy cardboard box, he and Lilo retreated.

“Home?” Stitch asked, leading the way. Lilo considered this and shook her head.

“Let’s go to Pleakley’s. He _is_ an expert on old Earth stuff, after all.”

Pleakley was an agent of the Galactic Alliance who had dedicated his life to studying the planet Earth’s history, as well as the human beings that now inhabited E-Arth. Because of his knowledge of the main inhabitants of the space station, he’d been sent to capture Stitch when word of his creation made it to the Grand Councilwoman. Between having ultimately failed his mission and wanting to study humans more closely, he had stayed on the space station after Stitch was deemed no longer a threat.

Lilo banged on the door of Pleakley’s quarters, while Stitch held onto the box and fought the rather strong urge to shake it and break whatever was inside. He was still working on certain things.

“Is everything okay?!” came a shrill, panicked voice as the door opened to reveal a one-eyed, three-legged alien in a blonde, curly wig.

Pleakley liked to wear women’s clothing. Lilo and Stitch didn’t really think anything of it.

“We’re fine, Pleakley, but we need to show you something!” Lilo explained, bursting into the alien’s room. Stitch followed her, and Pleakley scowled.

“What have you two been getting up to _now_?” he nagged.

“We found someone’s old hiding place!” Lilo sounded delighted and proud. “Alright, Stitch, you can open it now!” Stitch pulled the lid off the box, revealing a large black disk with a hole in the center. Lilo, looking confused, turned back to Pleakley. “Do you know what it is?”

“Hmm…” Pleakley’s concern about the two getting in trouble was lost to his fascination with human culture. Gingerly, he picked up the disk. “It could be a Frisbee… That’s a toy that people used to play with on Earth, but then again, this feels like it would break if you threw it around. Oh! Wait, I know!”

“What? What?” Lilo and Stitch chorused, leaning in.

“This is a _record_! It plays music… But this was outdated even before Earth was abandoned. This must have been passed down over a few generations.”

“Music? That’s awesome!” Lilo cheered. “But how do you play it?”

“Well, you’d need a record player… But the chances of finding that aren’t good at all!”

Lilo and Stitch looked at each other and nodded. “Jumba,” they said in unison.

Pleakley smiled brightly. “I’ll come with you!”

Dr. Jumba Jookiba was Stitch’s creator, and – along with Pleakley – part of Lilo and Stitch’s extended family. He’d been sentenced to live on E-Arth, far from his old lab, when his genetic experiments had been discovered. He’d managed to get an old coworker to smuggle just enough material to him so that Jumba could create his final experiment, Experiment 626… Better known as Stitch. Just as goodness had been brought out in Stitch, it had been brought out in Jumba by observing how a little girl’s friendship had made his monster so much more than a tool of destruction.

“Ah, is Little Girl and 6-2-6 and Pleakley.” Jumba was friendly as he greeted the trio, indicating that they had not interrupted a project – or a nap. Jumba was a massive, purple-ish alien, and for all that he had once been bent on destroying the very order of the galaxy, he was quite jovial. He also spoke with a Russian accent, which was another thing Lilo and Stitch didn’t think much of. “What is bringing you all here?”

Pleakley held up the record and Lilo explained how she and Stitch had found it, and what it apparently was. Jumba’s eyes twinkled with mischief.

“Is good to hear that 6-2-6 and Little Girl are getting up to healthy level of rebellion,” he laughed. “Although is surprising they got you involved,” he added, looking at Pleakley.

“Well, they’re very persuasive. Besides… Real Earth artifacts!”

“Do you think you can make a record player to play this on?” Lilo asked Jumba.

“Yes, of course! There is nothing Jumba Jookiba cannot be making!”

Stitch’s eyes focused on the clock on the far wall behind Jumba, and then he tugged on Lilo’s glittery sleeve. “Nani!”

“What? Oh, man, are we late already? She’s gonna freak out!”

“I will bring you record player when ready. Should be done by tonight. 6-2-6 and Little Girl should go before they evoke full wrath of Bigger Girl. Pleakley is to be staying here. Knowledge of Earth history might make you useful.” Jumba smirked, then added a playful, “For once.”

Pleakley rolled his eye. “Oh, just because I couldn’t capture your little monster, you’re _so much smarter_.”

Lilo giggled. “Good luck, guys, we’ll see you later!” Then she grabbed Stitch’s hand and the two ran off.

As quick as they went, however, they did fail in avoiding Nani’s “full wrath”. Although they tried to sneak in through a vent and straight into Lilo’s room, Nani was already there, one step ahead of them.

“Where _were_ you two? Do you have any idea how worried I was?! Tell me you two weren’t causing trouble again!”

“Well, _we_ don’t think it’s trouble,” Lilo pointed out. Nani groaned.

“One of these days, you two are going to get caught!”

“Oh. Right.” At that reminder, Stitch went over to the computer touchscreen installed in every bedroom of the station, and set to work hacking into the security footage files.

“What is he- You know what? I don’t think I _want_ to know,” Nani sighed, agitated. She leaned down and gently took her sister’s face in her hands. “I just don’t want anything bad to happen to you. You know that, right?”

“I know,” Lilo said softly. Her sister just wanted to keep her safe and well. “I just want to know more about where we come from.”

“I understand that. I think it’s great that you’re so curious. But can you try to be curious while following the rules?”

“Um,” Lilo began, “I can _try_?”

Nani sighed. “It’s a start.”

“All done!” Stitch crowed from by the computer.

The rest of the day went by peacefully. While Lilo and Stitch played games, Nani was on the computer in her room, trying to find if there was _any_ information on the station’s network about Earth as it had once been. If she could find more answers, maybe Lilo would stay out of trouble.

However, she wasn’t finding anything, and was starting to feel like giving up when she heard a knock on the door to the Pelekai living quarters.

As much as Nani would get annoyed with Jumba and even Pleakley for encouraging Lilo and Stitch’s troublemaking, she was always glad to see them – that evening was no exception. Their judgement might have been poor, but they were definitely family by this point. Nani could really use all the family that she could get.

“Hey, guys. What’s up?” Nani asked, tired but relaxed. Then she spotted the device in Jumba’s hands and groaned. “Oh, God, is this why my sister wasn’t back when I told her to be?”

Jumba shrugged. “Probably.”

“Look, I…” But she was just too worn out. And, admittedly, kind of curious herself. “What is it?”

“A record player! It plays music!” Pleakley explained.

Nani stared. “You know we have inventions for that already, right?”

“No, Lilo and Stitch found a hidden box today, and there was a record inside! It’s an old way of playing music, so it probably has old music on it!”

“It’s ready?” Lilo and Stitch exclaimed, poking their heads out from behind the door of Lilo’s room.

Jumba nodded, and the two rushed out to the living area.

“Play! Play!” Stitch chanted.

Jumba set down the record player, and touched the needle to the record. In an instant, a man’s voice could be heard singing.

“ _You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog  
Cryin’ all the time!_ ”

Lilo’s eyes widened in delight. It was, perhaps, the single greatest sound she had ever heard. She watched the record player in rapture, the spell only broken when Stitch grabbed her hand and began to dance. Lilo laughed and danced along, calling to the other two aliens over the music, “What is this?”

“With think we figured that out!” Pleakley said with pride. “A singer named Elvis, who was famous on Earth nearly one and a half centuries ago!”

“I love it!” Lilo laughed. “Nani, isn’t this great?”

Nani nodded. She wasn’t sure she’d ever seen her sister this happy – at least, not in quite a while. So, yes, definitely great, but not because of the music – though it was very fun. No, this was great because this was her _family_ , together and happy.


End file.
